Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL candidate Seán Gallagher has announced he will not be using lamp post posters throughout his election campaign.
Gallagher had earlier called on his fellow candidates to avoid using posters ahead of the 27 October ballot.
Speaking at the Age Action Silver Surfer Awards in Dublin today, Gallagher said that he came to his decision on posters after hearing from councillors, community groups and Tidy Town committees who complained that the posters are a source of unsightly litter.
He said that given the low number of candidates and the national platform of the election, “there is no need for posters”.
Yesterday, a new group called PosterFree.org called on all candidates to limit the “detrimental impact on our environment – visually and in terms of natural resources” by avoiding posters during this election campaign. The group told TheJournal.ie that it has contacted all of the presidential campaigns and urged them not to use posters.
A spokesman said that posters were effective years ago when there was no internet and less media, but that there is not the same need for them now. He also said that spending money on posters is excessive in the current financial climate.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
This guy has gone up quite a bit in my estimation over the course of this thing.
this is a campaign
Those damn posters should be banned, they look untidy as hell ans even when they take them down they almost always leave the cable ties up on the pole’s.
That and the fact that they frequently block road signs causing a danger to drivers.
Pointless waste of money
Fair play, is anyone a fan of goons staring down at them from lamp posts?
I wish the rest would follow suit. If you’re the type of person who needs a poster to help you to make your decision on who to vote for, well, you’re not fit lo vote.
The state of Mary Davis’s poster. Looks like a weight watchers add lol
When is a posterless campaign not a posterless campaign?
I promise this candidate a vote free campaign…
It looks like his campaigners are out in force here the votes are much higher than normal
*to vote.
Absolutely. The presidential election is not a beauty contest.
I’m really beginning to like this guy. Might get my vote after all.
I would say the poster manufacturers and printers would argue that spending money on posters is *very* appropriate in today’s economic climate.
It;s a classic collective action problem – serious candidates have to do it cos they know their competitors will. Ban/restrict it across the board and everyone wins. The only reason Gallagher isn’t using them is cos they cost an arm and a leg and he can’t afford them.
Which in turn raises another question about spending on elections – money spent on things like posters in elections is money people aren’t spending elsewhere. You could ban posters, lower the election spending limits and people could keep the money in their back pockets to spend on other, more productive, things and campaigns wouldn’t need to schill for so much money.
As it is, a huge amount of election spending is unproductive arms-race stuff. The other guys are doing it, so you need to do it.
It’s a start
Micky D is using the open handed welcoming gesture that only works face to face, when its in print it looks like: "I’ll only tell this much lies", or as twisted mind sees it "Norris is this big in the shower" enjoy the visual reference as you drive home.
We live in a democracy. There are no criteria on which you can judge who is fit to vote.
Sean Gallagher has only displayed an ignorance of the political system. I don’t think he gets what the presidential is all about. He has no chance anyway.
It’s a good job for most politicians that elections aren’t beauty contests!!
How much are FG spending on the cost of the posters and the erection of them? Also how much is Gay Mitchell spending out of his own pocket? Thinking he will gtlet it back when he is elected. I estimate 150000, Euro FG and Gay 35000.
Mary Davis gets them free from Print and Display as they are both on the same Quangoes.
Sean Gallagher can’t afford the cost of the campaign.
Let’s see the invoices on line please.now.
FG members & volunteers put up the majority of the posters, as with most of the main Political Party’s.
Any source saying that Mary Davis is getting them for free by any chance Frank?
This gets my vote, well done. And not a clemency letter or slogan gate in sight ;)
When there are plenty of unused shop windows, may as well use them!
Making a virtue out of necessity, possibly.
Think Séan is nervous about not getting his campaign money back because of a quota shortfall and is spinning his lack of self belief and resultant budget as "green". Where is that Patriotic Dragon full of such passion gone? I guess you have more intelligence than I had credited you for.
Just spotted Michael D hacks putting up posters in Rathfarnham
have your say